Employment conditions in Western Australia remain the strongest of all the states, with WA’s unemployment rate falling to 3.1 per cent last month, according to figures released last week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Employment conditions in Western Australia remain the strongest of all the states, with WA’s unemployment rate falling to 3.1 per cent last month, according to figures released last week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The state’s unemployment rate, which fell from 3.2 per cent in July, was second only to the ACT (2.8 per cent), and significantly lower than the national rate of 4.3 per cent.
Just more than 1.1 million people were employed in WA in August, down slightly from July, with 801,000 workers employed full-time.
Male unemployment in the state remained at a seasonally adjusted 3 per cent, while the female unemployment rate fell to 3.3 per cent, down from 3.5 per cent the previous month.
The participation rate, which measures the number of people employed or looking for work, remained at 68.6 per cent in WA, the highest rate of all the states.
The male participation rate fell 0.3 percentage points, to 76.1 per cent, while the female participation rate rose from 60.8 per cent to 61.1 per cent.
Nationally, unemployment remained at a 32-year low of 4.3 per cent, with full-time unemployment at 4 per cent, the lowest level recorded since November 1974.
The seasonally adjusted participation rate was 65.1 per cent, up 0.3 percentage points from August 2006.
The national employment level rose to just over 10.5 million people, up 2.6 per cent in the year to August, while unemployment decreased to 472,000, down 6.6 per cent.
During the month, 31,900 jobs were created nationally, of which 29,100 were full-time positions.
This was an increase of 3.1 per cent for the year to August.
Of all the states, South Australia had the biggest increase in new jobs (up 11,700), followed by Queensland (up 7,500) and New South Wales (up 5,500).
In WA, 3,300 new jobs were created.
Employment Protection Minister Michelle Roberts said the ABS figures confirmed the strength of the WA economy.
“We have maintained consistently low unemployment rates for several months, confirming the state’s status as a powerhouse economy,” Mrs Roberts said.
“WA continues to lead the country in terms of finding and creating jobs. Strong prices and demand for WA’s commodity exports have generated substantial increases in export values and rapid growth in business investment.”
A release from CommSec said the strength in the jobs market would help to contain the impact of the Reserve Bank’s interest rate rise last month on consumer spending, which was expected to soften towards the end of the year.
The statement said strong growth in full-time employment would help to support retail businesses, due to higher household incomes.
It also said the high participation rate would help to control inflation.
The Australian dollar closed higher last Thursday following the release of the ABS labour data.
